Hostages
by SwordStitcher
Summary: Riddler coaxes the medics out of the church the only way he knows how. With blood.


A/N: I guess this was just an excuse to write psychotic Riddler. He isn't all gloating ego and he's willing to get his hands dirty for the right cause.

* * *

'Tell them to come outside Mr. Burlow.' Riddler's voice was low and dangerous. The man he held, the man Switch, Mannie and Zowie had abducted, was screaming at his friend not to listen.

Switch fidgeted with the assault rifle in her hands. She really wasn't at home with the whole firearm thing, but firearms looked menacing and they wanted to look very menacing. Above her, a rusted sign told them that no guns were permitted in Arkham City, she snorted at the irony.

The few people they'd rounded up to do this little job with weren't the most reliable, but they'd do just about anything for food.

Our food. Switch thought testily. We stole it fair and square from Dent. Half of it's going on this operation.

It hadn't taken the Bat long to get here, and the minute he had, Riddler went from laid back to frenetic.

'I will hurt him Mr. Burlow and that will only be the start if you don't get them out here, _now_.'

'Don't listen to him Eddie, don't list-ARGH'

She stood, a little way off from Riddler and watched as he pulled the knife that rested ever so gently on his hostage's throat and plunged it into his leg then ripped it back out. The man, pinned by the deceptive leanness of Riddler, screamed at the sudden pain.

'This is all Batman's fault Burlow. I will have my revenge, one way or the other. Either you get them out here now, or I finish playing with your friend and I come in there and _get you_.'

To show how serious he was, Riddler plunged the knife into the hostage's leg again, only a few inches above his last stab. The man screamed and sobbed as his resolve weakened. Nigma raised the bloody blade to strike again but paused when he heard bolts sliding back.

The heavy door of the church opened slowly. 'Alright.' Burlow sounded defeated. 'We're coming out. Just please, stop hurting him.'

Switch nodded to the recruits. They surrounded their new and terrified hostages and began to escort them away. Riddler plucked Burlow from the group and turned to Switch.

'Set up the projector and webcams.'

She watched him march Burlow away from the group and talk to him. The man was angry and Switch was wary of him attempting to kill Nigma for what he did to his friend, but Riddler was half-mad already. He really wanted his revenge for the Asylum debacle.

She shouldered the rifle and picked up a heavy, off white canvas. It smelled a lot like mold and forgotten attics. Nigma would have just about anybody's hide if this went wrong and Switch was determined, after the Asylum, that it wasn't going to be hers.

Some of those bruises had taken months to heal.

Riddler had explained to her just where to put the webcams to maximise the sweep of images he picked up. After Quinn and Joker blew the tower, the whole place smelled slightly like burning wood. Debris was strewn everywhere and the bodies were left where they had died, be it a gurney or the floor.

The sheet was easy enough to rig up with an old pipe and some rope. The Projector was, as always the most difficult one to get right. They were temperamental at the best of times but this one had been under a pile of debris in a damp room. It had taken some coaxing just to bring it back to life.

'Test. Test.' She shouted, well aware that at least three webcams were watching her twirl in a slow three-sixty.

Riddler's face appeared smugly on the sheet in front of her. 'How am I looking?'

That new filter was odd, and with the sketchy power, his voice was slightly distorted. But all considering, she went for what he wanted to hear. 'Intimidating.'

'Good. Get out. He's coming back.' The screen went dead and Switch sighed.

God help Batman. She thought glumly as she slipped around the side of the building. Nobody was going to help Riddler's hostages, not even Switch.

She stood and shifted for a few seconds, trying to keep warmth in her limbs. It was always fucking freezing in this damn city.

The caped menace dropped in front of the church doors and entered slowly. She heard his footsteps and then the booming of Nigma's voice.

She supposed he wanted her to set up the hostages as they talked. Burlow was already in the loving care of Paxton with instructions to rough him up, but not to kill him.

The rest of them were going to be scattered around the pre-prepared warehouses with all of Riddler's little surprises.

She had to hand it to him; Nigma's wrath was definitely not something she wanted pointed 100% on her. He'd had quite a few months to dream up the most inventive contraptions he could think of, their sole job was to confound and fry the big bad bat.

Yep. God help him.

Maybe, after this was over, shed go looking for Bruce Wayne and let off some steam. That was assuming he wasn't already dead.


End file.
